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Tar seeps are common in Hancock Park, which surrounds the La Brea Tar Pits. -
Now-suburbanized Signal Hill was once known as “Porcupine Hill” due to the density of oil derricks on its slopes. -
The Beverly Hills Oil Field — accessed via three cleverly disguised well sites, including this one next to Beverly Hills High School — produces 850,000 barrels annually. -
Now-suburbanized Signal Hill was once known as “Porcupine Hill” due to the density of oil derricks on its slopes.
One of the West’s most car-happy places sprawls across some of its oldest and most productive oilfields. About 28 million barrels are pumped annually from 5,000 wells in the Los Angeles Basin and just offshore, according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation. These photos were drawn from the organization’s recent L.A. exhibit, “Urban Crude.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Urban oilscape.
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